Not Even Once heroin campaign to receive national award

St. Louis County, Mo (KSDK) -- The St. Louis County Police Department's Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force will receive an award for heroin education.

President Barack Obama's Drug Czar Director Gil Kerlikowske will present the Outstanding Community Prevention Effort Award on Thursday to the task force for its Not Even Once campaign in the St. Louis metro.

The goal of the Not Even Once program was to prevent young people from experimenting with heroin, and to reduce the overall number of heroin overdose fatalities in St. Louis County. After rising to a total of 91 deaths in 2011, heroin fatalities in St. Louis County have decreased by 30 percent to date in 2012.